The Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum
My Wife and I recently travelled to San Jose. We were there specifically to go to the Winchester Mystery House, but that morning we stopped by a different place, the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum. What a fantastic and unexpected joy.
The Museum Entrance
The building is impressive, with large columns at the entry, massive masonry and paving stones, and richly manicured gardens filled with statuary on the outside.
Artefacts and Displays
The inside is also a marvel, larger than you would expect and filled with display cases loaded with authentic Egyptian artefacts, maps and models, writings, sculptures, and other treasures.
The Tomb
The Museum also features a scale Tomb, that visitors enter by walking through a replica of a stone entrance. They then proceed down a staircase to the burial chamber below. There they find another sunken area when a sarcophagus has been unearthed. This is an amazing recreation, very atmospheric and moody.
Sculptures and Models
Helping to broaden the experience for visitors there are many sculptures throughout the museum. These along with models of various Egyptian archaeological sites, help enrich the experience.
The scale models give visitors an idea of the actual, physical size of real Egyptian archaeological sites.
Modern Marvel: Thoth
One of the most amazing displays that the Museum offers is not ancient at all, but is in fact a state of the art animatronic named Thoth. Thoth is the Egyptian God of Wisdom and Knowledge, and true to his namesake, this android will answer your questions.
With cameras in it's eyes and full facial recognition software, this animatronic will look you straight in the eye. It moves it's head, arms, and torso, giving a very lifelike appearance. When questioned it's software algorithm comes up with a reply, allowing it to answer the visitor directly.
Outside Grounds
Not to be missed when visiting the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum are the exterior grounds, both the front and also the extensive back area. These are beautifully detailed and full of sand covered walkways, pillars, palm trees, temple buildings, and reflecting pools. The Egyptian theme truly shines.
Needless to say we quite enjoyed our visit to the Museum. If you're planning to go, I suggest allowing lots of time. The morning went too quickly for us, we could have used several more hours to explore all the exhibits.